5 Friends Chase Second World Record in Caterpillar Costume

Five friends from Indiana are turning childhood dreams into reality, one ridiculous costume and one world record at a time.

Last September, Zachary Davenport, Zach Burton, Ian Leatherman, and Kaid Hutchinson crushed the world record for fastest half marathon in a four-person costume at the Geist Half in Fishers. Their time of 1 hour and 30 minutes demolished the previous record by 11 minutes, all while dressed as a giant caterpillar.

But their cameraman, Kaleb Gucinski, didn't get official recognition despite running the entire race with them. He had to film the attempt for Guinness World Records verification, which meant he couldn't be inside the costume.

"To be honest, we felt bad Kaleb didn't get a plaque," Davenport said. So they're fixing that problem on May 2 at the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon by attempting the five-person costume record with Gucinski officially in the lineup.

The current five-person record stands at 1 hour, 48 minutes and 59 seconds, set by a Canadian team in a streetcar costume. Given their previous performance, the team feels confident they can beat it.

All five runners attended Anderson University, where professor Jack Lugar now teaches cinema and media arts. He's making a short documentary about their Mini-Marathon attempt, complete with GoPro cameras inside the costume and footage from training runs.

During their first record attempt, the team blasted an eclectic playlist including Creed's "Higher" and the "Barbie" movie theme song. "You see this giant 25-foot monstrosity coming down the streets of Indianapolis, it better be making music, too," Burton said.

This will likely be the last attempt for most of the team. Burton, Hutchinson, and Leatherman say family commitments mean they're ready to retire from world record attempts after the Mini-Marathon.

The race ends with a special Indianapolis tradition: kissing the bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway finish line. Five people in a caterpillar costume figuring out how to kiss a three-foot strip of bricks should make for great documentary footage.

Why This Inspires

This story captures something beautifully simple about friendship and joy. These aren't professional athletes chasing glory or fame. They're regular people who saw a silly opportunity and decided to chase it together, then came back to make sure their friend got the recognition he deserved. In a world that often takes itself too seriously, they're proving that adulthood doesn't mean abandoning the dreams you had as a kid flipping through the Guinness Book of World Records at a school book fair.

May 2 will determine whether they bring home another plaque, but they've already won something better: a story worth telling for the rest of their lives.